1: The student conducts classroom and outdoor investigations following school and home safety procedures and environmentally appropriate practices.

1.A: demonstrate safe practices as described in the Texas Safety Standards during classroom and outdoor investigations, including observing a schoolyard habitat; and

Diffusion

2: The student uses scientific inquiry methods during laboratory and outdoor investigations.

2.C: construct maps, graphic organizers, simple tables, charts, and bar graphs using tools and current technology to organize, examine, and evaluate measured data;

Graphing Skills

2.E: demonstrate that repeated investigations may increase the reliability of results; and

Diffusion

3: The student knows that information, critical thinking, scientific problem solving, and the contributions of scientists are used in making decisions.

3.C: represent the natural world using models such as volcanoes or Sun, Earth, and Moon system and identify their limitations, including size, properties, and materials; and

Eclipse

4: The student knows how to use a variety of tools and methods to conduct science inquiry.

4.A: collect, record, and analyze information using tools, including microscopes, cameras, computers, hand lenses, metric rulers, Celsius thermometers, wind vanes, rain gauges, pan balances, graduated cylinders, beakers, spring scales, hot plates, meter sticks, compasses, magnets, collecting nets, notebooks, sound recorders, and Sun, Earth, and Moon system models; timing devices, including clocks and stopwatches; and materials to support observation of habitats of organisms such as terrariums and aquariums; and

Weight and Mass

5: The student knows that matter has measurable physical properties and those properties determine how matter is classified, changed, and used.

5.A: measure, test, and record physical properties of matter, including temperature, mass, magnetism, and the ability to sink or float;

Archimedes' Principle
Density
Diffusion
Growing Plants
Mineral Identification
Weight and Mass

5.B: describe and classify samples of matter as solids, liquids, and gases and demonstrate that solids have a definite shape and that liquids and gases take the shape of their container;

Phases of Water

5.C: predict, observe, and record changes in the state of matter caused by heating or cooling; and

Phases of Water

6: The student knows that forces cause change and that energy exists in many forms.

6.A: explore different forms of energy, including mechanical, light, sound, and heat/thermal in everyday life;

Energy Conversions

8: The student knows there are recognizable patterns in the natural world and among objects in the sky.

8.B: describe and illustrate the Sun as a star composed of gases that provides light and heat energy for the water cycle;

Water Cycle

8.C: construct models that demonstrate the relationship of the Sun, Earth, and Moon, including orbits and positions; and

Eclipse
Phases of the Moon

8.D: identify the planets in Earth's solar system and their position in relation to the Sun.

Solar System

9: The student knows that organisms have characteristics that help them survive and can describe patterns, cycles, systems, and relationships within the environments.

9.A: observe and describe the physical characteristics of environments and how they support populations and communities within an ecosystem;

Pond Ecosystem

9.B: identify and describe the flow of energy in a food chain and predict how changes in a food chain affect the ecosystem such as removal of frogs from a pond or bees from a field; and

Prairie Ecosystem

10: The student knows that organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures that help them survive within their environments.

10.B: explore that some characteristics of organisms are inherited such as the number of limbs on an animal or flower color and recognize that some behaviors are learned in response to living in a certain environment such as animals using tools to get food; and

Inheritance